Thursday, January 31, 2013

San Francisco Giants Pitching great Barry Zito (pictured above) was the 2013 winner of the Fred Hutchinson Award, honor the famous Major League manager who was a Seattle native. The keynote speaker of the event was former Mariners skipper Lou Piniella (lower picture). Piniella looked trim and tanned as he spoke fondly of his time with the Mariners.
The award is presented each year to a player who exemplifies Fred Hutchinson's spirit, Hutchinson's brother started the world renown Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Monday, January 28, 2013

As Steve Kelley winds up 30 some years as Seattle Times Sports Columnist, he picked the 30 top sports stories during his tenure with the paper you can click here for the entire list but here are his top 10: 10. Mookie Wilson's dribbler trickled through first baseman Bill Buckner's glove, scoring Ray Knight and giving the New York Mets a Game 6 win. Two days later the Mets won the deciding game of the 1986 World Series.9. With the score tied 52-52, Derrick Wittenburg's desperation jumper fell short, but Lorenzo Charles read the shot's arc, grabbed the air ball and dunked the game-winning field goal. North Carolina State beat the heavily favored Phi Slamma Jammas of Houston in the 1983 title game and coach Jim Valvano ran around the floor looking for someone to hug.8. In a jaw-dropping sprint, Tyus Edney dribbled the length of the floor in the final 4.8 seconds and scored at the rim over Derek Grimm to stun Missouri 75-74 in the second round of the 1995 NCAA tournament. UCLA eventually won the final Final Four played at the Kingdome.7. The Sonics and Utah Jazz, two teams playing at their absolute best, gave us a classic seventh game of a dramatic 1996 Western Conference finals. It was Gary Payton vs. John Stockton and Shawn Kemp against Karl Malone. Kemp had 26 points and 14 rebounds in Seattle's 90-86 series-clinching win that still gives me chills.6. In a hold-your-breath moment, Michael Phelps beat Milorad Cavic by one hundredth of a second in the 100 butterfly to win the seventh of his unprecedented eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. Even every sportswriter was cheering for Phelps.5. Dodger Kirk Gibson painfully limped to home plate to face Oakland's Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of the first game of the 1989 World Series. I don't know how, but he slammed the game-winning home run and as he hobbled around the bases, broadcaster Jack Buck put words to our feelings, saying, "I do not believe what I just saw."4. Edgar Martinez doubled down the left-field line. From first base, Ken Griffey Jr. expertly cut the edges of second and third and slid home into a delirious celebration as the Mariners came from a 2-0 series deficit to beat the New York Yankees 3 games to 2 in the 1995 American League Divisional Series.3. All morning, Seattle was in a state of nervous anticipation as it waited for the first pitch of this one-game playoff with California for the 1995 AL West title. But Randy Johnson calmed the city's fears, pitching a complete-game three-hitter in the M's 9-1 win.2. Michael Johnson hit some gear I've never seen from a human as he rounded the turn en route to setting a world record and winning the gold medal in the 1996 Olympic 200 meters. I thought it was the most thrilling performance I'd ever seen, until ...1. Usain Bolt easily pulled past the world's fastest humans and was heading for a world record in the 100 meters, when he raised his hands and celebrated his 2008 gold medal about 10 meters before the finish line. Sitting about 15 rows from the track, I thought he'd blown his chance at the world record. And then I looked up at the scoreboard. And then I heard the roar inside the Beijing Bird's Nest. He did it.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Chris Hansen's attempt to purchase the Sacramento Kings seemed to be complete when both parties announced a binding agreement for Hansen and his fellow investors to purchase the team from the Maloof Brothers at the beginning of the week. It looked like the Sonics return was a sure thing, however, the city of Sacramento has an ace in the hole with Mayor Kevin Johnson. Mayor Johnson is a former NBA star and has used his influence with commissioner David Stern to fight previous relocation attempts. At the end of the week, no one in either city knew who would win and whether the Kings would play another season in Sacramento.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Various news outlets are reporting that the Sacramento Kings have been sold to Chris Hansen, potentially allowing the San Francisco based financier to relocate the troubled franchise to Seattle. The move of the Kings from Sacramento to Seattle (I believe) would mark the first time Seattle has acquired a professional sports team by relocation rather than by expansion.
The original Super Sonics were created along with the Phoenix Suns in a late 60s expansion of the NBA. The Seahawks and Mariners began play in the mid to late 70s.

The Democrats from Washington's 5th Legislative District met Wednesday, January 16 to reorganize after a 2012 election cycle that saw Barak Obama elected President, Jay Inslee elected Governor and Mark Mullet elected to be the first Democrat elected to represent the district in 20 years. Mullet is our State Senator.
The body voted to censure Senators Rodney Tom (above) of Medina and Tim Sheldon of Potlatch for a moving to cross party lines and sabotage the Democrats hard earned majority. Because of the move, Tom is Majority Leader and Sheldon is President Pro Tem. Tim Shelden has long been a headache for Senate Democrats, but Rodney Tom, who switched from the Republican Party in '08, was a surprise as he had been known to support Democratic causes in the past.
The 5th also retained Jim Baum, who was challenged by former 45th District Chair Martin Cheney. Cheney will represent the 5th on the King County Central Committee along with Barbara Rakita. I was able to retain my position as State Committeeman along with Judith Shattuck who will be 5th District State Committeewoman for the first time.

With the story of Aaron Goldsmith, Barers Of Maple Valley made it's 2000 post. This May will mark the 8th year of blogging, many of my fellow bloggers have tired or brought their forumn to another social network site, but this one keeps rolling.

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Seattle Mariners picked a new face (or voice)to team up with Rick Rizzs on it's radio broadcasts. 29 year old Aaron Goldsmith, unknown to most Seattle area fans, was chosen to fill the spot left vacant by the passing in 2010 of the legendary Dave Niehaus.
Until now, Goldsmith was the voice of the Boston Red Sox Triple A affiliate in Pawtucket. Goldsmith will be one of the youngest Major League broadcasters. The Mariners had announced last year that a search would be made for a full time broadcaster. The last couple of seasons, the Niehaus spot was filled by former M's broadcasters and players.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Last Saturday, the weather was freezing but it was sunny outside. Having the day off, I decided to walk the Lake Wilderness Trail with Dasher. The middle picture is the narrow path that connects the trail to the park. I took the bottom picture from where the Lake Wilderness Lodge is. You can see Mt. Rainier in the background.

The 2012-2013 play-off run for the Seattle Seahawks came to a heartbreaking end today as the Atlanta Falcons kicked a last second field goal to win. This was after the Seahawks overcame a 20 point 4th quarter deficit to lead for the first time in the game. The final score was Atlanta 30 Seattle Seahawks 28.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Local radio station KIRO 97.3 has reported a deleted tweet has spoken of a done deal between Cris Hanson and the Maloof Brothers that would bring the NBA back to Seattle. All parties of denied there is any truth to this. The tweet was from the daughter of NBA agent David Falk.

Monday, January 07, 2013

It looked hopeless in the first quarter, but the Seattle Seahawks were able to overcome a 14-0 first quarter deficit and defeat the Washington Redskins 24-14 in the nation's capital. Pictured above is Marshawn Lynch's 4th quarter touchdown. In an amazing turn of events, the Redskins were not able to score after the first quarter as Seattle started to chip away at the lead. Redskin coach Mike Shanahan was placed in a no-win situation of whether to play a banged up Robert Griffin the third. Griffin finally went down in the 4th after a fumble on a bad snap. A Seahawk fumble recovery was marred by the sight of the Redskin rookie laying on the ground in a heap.
The victory had a cost for Seattle as star defensive end Chris Clemmons was lost for the season with a torn ACL. As you could predict, the discussion in the national sports media was not the 'Hawks victory, but the wisdom of Coach Shanahan of sticking with RG 3 who had shown signs of being slowed by his injuries. This should give the 'Hawks all the motivation to turn it on this weekend. The Seahawks will be traveling to Atlanta to face the Falcons at 10 am on Sunday.

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Steve Kelley, perhaps the best known newspaper sports columnist in town for over 3 decades, has announced that he is leaving his position at the Seattle Times. Known for his candor and measured criticism of local teams, owners, players, and fans, Kelley's column was a "must read" after any significant college or professional sports event in the area or around the nation.
Kelley sited the posted reader's comments on line for one of the reasons that he is leaving. The forums at the end of newspaper articles provide for anonymous comments that are often mean spirited. Like veteran sports talk show host Mike Gastineau, who left KJR last year, Kelley also spoke of repetition of covering the same things continuously, that made the position less enjoyable.